Wanting to watch movies wirelessly on tv from MacBook Pro and iPad

[Abfarris]

First of all I'm new to the board and a novice at tech stuff so if I have asked this in the wrong forum please point me in the right direction.

I have a DNLA tv in one room and in the other I have a blu ray player that has apps and I think also supports DNLA and a wii.

I would like to wirelessly watch the movies on my MacBook pro (several different file formats and not located in iTunes but in other folders) on my tv.

Do I need an apple tv?

Can I set this up without apple tv using DLNA and downloading some apps to my MacBook and iPad?

How can I set this up?

Any info would be great.

 

[heisenberg123]

First of all I'm new to the board and a novice at tech stuff so if I have asked this in the wrong forum please point me in the right direction.

I have a DNLA tv in one room and in the other I have a blu ray player that has apps and I think also supports DNLA and a wii.

I would like to wirelessly watch the movies on my MacBook pro (several different file formats and not located in iTunes but in other folders) on my tv.

Do I need an apple tv?

Can I set this up without apple tv using DLNA and downloading some apps to my MacBook and iPad?

How can I set this up?

Any info would be great.

i would not get an appleTV if all you media is in different formats, unless you can get a jailbroken ATV2

 

[26139]

Yes!

The easiest way to do so is with an AppleTV.

You'll be limited to playing whatever works in iTunes (most video, especially legitimately obtained video, will play just fine).

You'll need to have whatever computer that stores your files on.

 

[dendowling]

There are a several UPnP media server apps that you can install on your mac to allow your TV to find your mac files wirelessly. I think, iSedora and Twonky are free apps.

Usually, when you setup the media server app on your mac you will pick one folder for each format to share - so, one folder for movies, one folder for photos, one for music. So, you might need to move all your movie files into one location anyway.

Also, when you setup the media server on your mac it is making those files on your computer publicly accessible to anyone on the network. This may be OK at home with family or roomates (or maybe not). But, you most likely want to make sure it is not running when you're out on a public network like a cafe, school, or office. There should be an on/off or running/disabled button in the media sharing setup. Or, it may have a preference to only run on certain networks you specify.

Of course, your TV (or blu-ray device) must be connected to your home network too - some have wifi, most need an ethernet cable. And, whether the movie will play depends on the TV or blu-ray player. The TV may only play certain video formats. Check the TV or blu-ray manual.

And, there are also UPnP viewer apps for iPhone/ipad so, you can watch on an iOS device instead of on TV.

 

[Menneisyys2]

most video, especially legitimately obtained video, will play just fine

In this case, "legitimately obtained" only means "purchased from the iTunes Store" but, unfortunately, doesn't include BD / DVD rips etc. unless they are properly converted to mp4/m4v/mov.

As an answer to the original q: only except quality playback of videos playable inside iTunes. Playback via screen mirroring or non-native video formats (from third-party players) will always be far inferior and stuttering. You will ALWAYS want to convert all your movies to be iTunes-friendly - unlike with a lot of other, non-Apple media tanks, streamers etc, which, generally, have no problems with non-mp4/m4v/mov movie files (but might have their own, unrelated problems).

 

[Menneisyys2]

i would not get an appleTV if all you media is in different formats, unless you can get a jailbroken ATV2

Yup, non-JB'n ATV's are really limited, compared to some other media streamers capable of playing back

1, a lot of video formats; for example MKV's (for example, direct BD / DVD rips) natively;

2, can stream from NAS / FTP / SMB drives and the like, unlike ATV, which makes it imperative to keep your desktop computer, running iTunes, on.

 

[jdag]

Yup, non-JB'n ATV's are really limited, compared to some other media streamers capable of playing back...

I'd disagree with this.

I have 2 ATV3s and run Plex Media Server (free) on my iMac. Then, I use my iPhone or iPad with the Plex app ($4.99) to browse my library and select a video. Once the video starts, I use Airplay to stream to the selected AppleTV. Essentially, the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch act as a remote controller.

It really works like a charm with 2 exceptions:
1) Pausing can be flaky
2) No 5.1 surround sound (although my receiver does a pretty good job of using a logic surround mode)

I used to have JB ATV2s and sold them. I will state, this is NOT as convenient as having a JB ATV2 and using Plex on the ATV. However, it really is not been problematic for my household (we all have either an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad).

In my case, this is a good bridge until Apple allows for native apps.

 

[Abfarris]

Well I think I have a mix of formats that my friend gave me on an external hard drive. I believe some were .avi. Do I just need to download a converter and convert them to mp4. I think the tv only accepts wmv9, mpeg1 mpeg2-ps, mpeg2-ts, mpeg4.

What does a jail broken apple tv allow?

Thanks for your help so far! I can't wait to see what will work for me. I feel that a lot if this is a little bit over my head but I really want to learn more about this networking stuff so I can eliminate a few annoying cords. I really appreciate the help.

 

[heisenberg123]

Well I think I have a mix of formats that my friend gave me on an external hard drive. I believe some were .avi. Do I just need to download a converter and convert them to mp4. I think the tv only accepts wmv9, mpeg1 mpeg2-ps, mpeg2-ts, mpeg4. What does a jail broken apple tv allow?

Thanks for your help so far! I can't wait to see what will work for me. I feel that a lot if this is a little bit over my head but I really want to learn more about this networking stuff so I can eliminate a few annoying cords. I really appreciate the help.

yes this is what I did, used a convert to convert all my files to mp4 so i could iimport to intues, if you want to go this route that I do recomend the ATV for you original post

 

[Moonjumper]

i would not get an appleTV if all you media is in different formats, unless you can get a jailbroken ATV2

With a recent Mac, I thought AirPlay Mirroring in OS X Mountain Lion would allow anything that can be displayed on a Mac to be shown on any Apple TV. I don't yet have a new enough Mac, or an Apple TV to test this.

 

[Menneisyys2]

With a recent Mac, I thought AirPlay Mirroring in OS X Mountain Lion would allow anything that can be displayed on a Mac to be shown on any Apple TV. I don't yet have a new enough Mac, or an Apple TV to test this.

AirPlay Mirroring is completely useless for video playback - it's just not fast enough.

 

[Abfarris]

Can I download XBMC to my computer or tvmobili and can that be found through the tv or blu ray player?

 

[Cinephi1e]

AirPlay Mirroring is completely useless for video playback - it's just not fast enough.

I think it depends on what type of video. If it is 1080p, high bitrate blu-ray rips, yes, Airplay is not the way to go. You need a reliable wired connection for best results. However, if it is an Internet video you are watching on your laptop, this is perfect. The best example I can think of was the Olympics. The regular broadcast was full of ads and other interruptions. If you were willing to watch it the next day, NBC had the entire events on its website for streaming in HD without any interruptions. This worked really well with Airplay.

 

[clarkie604]

First off, Plex should work great for you and you don't even need an AppleTV because Plex will stream through DLNA. I don't have anything with DLNA so I haven't tried it out, but I know they updated the server this year for DNLA support. You just run the server software on your computer with the movies and you watch the stream on your TV via DNLA. Check out plexapp.com.

Second, if you do have an AppleTV, Plex works beautifully via AirPlay. You do not use AirPlay mirroring. You run Plex on your iOS device, and you select to output video to your AppleTV. This is different from mirroring and works pretty sweet.

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Note that is Plex will play avi.s -- you will not have to convert to iTunes files.

 

[Abfarris]

Thank you.

 

[outphase]

Serviio (http://www.serviio.org) is a DLNA server that works well for me.